Heilige Gebete und Andachten

Die Wunder von Tschernobyl

immaculata — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:33:29 +0000

Der Erlöser von Tschernobyl

Sein Urgroßvater war hier Priester, der Großvater auch. Nikolaj Jakuschin wurde es erst nach der Katastrophe. Jetzt steht seine Kirche mitten in der Sperrzone. Die Geschichte einer Auferstehung.

Als es geschah, hieß Vater Nikolaj noch nicht Vater Nikolaj. Die Zone hieß noch nicht die Zone. Tschernobyl hieß Tschernobyl, aber gemeint war eine Stadt, keine Katastrophe. Gott hieß Gott, aber man nannte ihn besser nicht beim Namen.

Kernkraftwerke betreiben Spaltung, dazu sind sie da. Dieses eine aber, in dessen Schatten Vater Nikolaj lebte, genannt Tschernobylskaja Atomnaja Elektrostanzija „Lenin“, dieses eine spaltete alles: Lebenswege, Familien, Namen. Und die Zeit. Erst nachher wusste man, dass es ein Vorher gab.

Vater Nikolaj hieß, als es geschah, Nikolaj Jakuschin, er arbeitete in einem Landmaschinenkombinat, er war Ingenieur.

Ein Ingenieur weiß, wie ein Kernkraftwerk funktioniert. Hat das Kernkraftwerk eine Seele? Wie soll es eine haben, fragt Vater Nikolaj, wo es doch ohne Seele gebaut wurde? Mit der flachen Hand schlägt Vater Nikolaj auf das Lenkrad seines Opels, Baujahr ’94. Der Opel ist alt, aber er hält das aus. Warum? Weil er in Deutschland gebaut wurde. Weil er mit Seele gebaut wurde.

„Wir“, sagt Vater Nikolaj, auf die Schornsteine deutend und die Strommasten und auf die Stahlträger und den ganzen sowjetischen Rest, „wir haben 70 Jahre lang gebaut und gebaut und gebaut. Aber wir haben es ohne Seele getan.“

Tschernobyl, im Frühjahr 2011. Noch bedeckt Schnee die nordukrainische Tiefebene, bald wird er schmelzen. Dann werden die Fußstapfen verschwinden und die Reifenspuren, die in das Städtchen Tschernobyl hinein und aus ihm heraus führen. Viele sind es nicht.

Vor 25 Jahren stach man einen Zirkel in eine Landkarte. Kreisend schnitt er 4300 Quadratkilometer Welt von der Welt ab. Konzentrische Ringe aus Stacheldraht ordnen das Niemandsland: die 30-Kilometer-Zone, die 10-Kilometer-Zone, die Kraftwerkszone. In der Mitte steht ein Sarg. Begraben liegt hier unter Tausenden Tonnen von Stahlbeton: Block IV, havariert am 26. April 1986 um 1 Uhr 23, Unfallursache: menschliches Versagen.

Der Geigerzähler ordnet die Zone anders. Unordentlicher. Mal fiept er hysterisch, mal wimmert er leise, ein Muster ist nicht zu erkennen. Es gibt nahezu stille Stellen in unmittelbarer Reaktornähe, und andere, weit entfernte, die den Zähler schrill aufheulen lassen.

Die rätselhafteste Stelle liegt ein paar Kilometer südlich vom Reaktor am Fluss Pripjat, zwischen erstem und zweitem Stacheldrahtring, in der Stadt, die dem Reaktor ihren Namen lieh. Die Stadt Tschernobyl wäre unscheinbar, wenn die Kirche nicht wäre. 40 Meter hoch ragt die Heilig-Ilja-Kirche in den ukrainischen Winterhimmel, und betritt man sie, verstummt der Geigerzähler.

„Es ist Gottes Haus“, sagt Vater Nikolaj. „Die Strahlung dringt hier nicht ein.“

Und das ist nur eins von vielen Wundern.

Die Jakuschins waren ein Priestergeschlecht. Nikolajs Urgroßvater diente in der Heilig-Ilja-Kirche, Nikolajs Großvater ebenfalls. Bis die Bolschewiken kamen. Die Bolschewiken hämmerten an die Kirchentür, sie sagten: Hör auf zu beten, Väterchen, der Mensch hat keine Seele. Doch, sagte Nikolajs Großvater – der Mensch hat eine Seele, und sie ist unsterblich. Die Bolschewiken steckten den Großvater ins Gefängnis. Als er freikam, war er alt. Das war sein Glück. Er starb früh genug, um Stalins Säuberungen nicht zu erleben. Den Terror der dreißiger Jahre überstand kaum ein Kleriker. Der Sohn des Großvaters, Nikolajs Vater, wurde kein Priester. Die Zeiten waren nicht so.

Nikolaj Jakuschin wurde trotzdem getauft, heimlich, zuhause. Alle Orthodoxen machten das so, wer Kinder in der Kirche taufen ließ, konnte die Arbeit verlieren. Als Nikolaj geboren wurde, kurz vor Kriegsende, war das Gotteshaus ohnehin geschlossen, die örtliche Kolchose nutzte es als Getreidesilo. So lernte Nikolaj die Kirche seiner Väter kennen: bis unter die Kuppel mit Weizen gefüllt. An der Decke verblasste ein bedrängter Christus, die Hände mehr abwehrend als segnend über die Körner gebreitet.

Das Städtchen Tschernobyl, ukrainisch Tschornobyl, ist alt, uralt für hiesige Verhältnisse, auch wenn man es ihm nicht ansieht. Kein Bau aus der Gründungszeit ist geblieben, erst schleiften die Mongolen die Stadt, später kamen Litauer, Polen, Deutsche, zuletzt die Bolschewiken. Heute stehen zwischen den Plattenbauten der Sowjetzeit nur noch ein paar Holzhäuser, keins davon älter als zwei Jahrhunderte. Gegründet aber wurde Tschornobyl zeitgleich mit Kiew, und als der Großfürst von Kiew im Jahr 988 seine Untertanen taufen ließ, gehörten die Tschornobyler zu den ersten Christen der slawischen Welt.

Wem diese Vergangenheit noch gegenwärtig war im Zukunftsrausch der Sowjetunion, den erstaunte auch nicht, dass hier nun, in Tschornobyl, tausend Jahre nach der Slawentaufe, die Zeit an ihr Ende kommen sollte, wie es verkündet worden war in der Offenbarung:

Und der dritte Engel blies seine Posaune; und es fiel ein großer Stern vom Himmel, der brannte wie eine Fackel und fiel auf den dritten Teil der Wasserströme und auf die Wasserquellen. Und der Name des Sterns heißt Wermut. Und der dritte Teil der Wasser wurde zu Wermut, und viele Menschen starben von den Wassern, weil sie bitter geworden waren.

Dies schrieb Johannes in Kapitel 8, Vers 10 und 11. Wermut aber heißt auf Ukrainisch: Tschornobyl.

Es war ein grauer Morgen, der letzte vor der Karwoche. Nikolaj Jakuschin war auf dem Weg zum Markt, er wollte Fisch kaufen für das Fastenmahl. Von Kiew her sah er Autokolonnen auf das Kraftwerk zusteuern, Soldaten, Feuerwehrmänner, Mediziner, alle in Gasmasken. Die Leute im Ort stellten Fragen, aber niemand beantwortete sie. Eine Übung, dachte Nikolaj Jakuschin, es muss eine Übung sein. Vom Kraftwerk her wehte Rauch.

Am Ostermontag, neun Tage nach dem Unfall, wurde Tschernobyl evakuiert. Innerhalb eines Tages verwaiste die Stadt. Es ist nur vorübergehend, sagte man den Leuten, aber niemand glaubte es. Die Alten mussten mit Gewalt in die Busse verfrachtet werden. Wo ist denn diese Strahlung, fragten sie, wovon redet ihr denn, wir sehen nichts!

Soldaten schlossen die Häuser ab. Sie versiegelten die Kirche. Stille legte sich über Tschernobyl.

Christus breitete seine blassen Hände über das verwaiste Kirchenschiff. Zwischen den Bodenplanken stöberten Mäuse nach Getreideresten. Der Wind trug Samen durch die zerbrochenen Fenster, Unkraut überwucherte den Altar. Eines Tages kamen Plünderer. Auf der Suche nach Altmetall zogen sie durch die Zone und brachen die verlassenen Häuser auf. Sie knüpften ein Stahlseil an die versiegelte Kirchentür und spannten es vor einen Traktor. Das Seil riss. Sein geborstenes Ende fuhr durch die Luft, es suchte ein Ziel und fand einen Sünder. Einer der Plünderer brach zusammen, getroffen mitten ins Gesicht, die anderen flohen. Jeder in der Zone kennt die Geschichte von Gottes Rache.

Nikolaj Jakuschin war mit seiner Familie nach Kiew ausgesiedelt worden. Ab und zu kehrte er zurück in seine Heimatstadt, dann stand er vor der Kirche und weinte. Die Metallkuppel des Glockenturms löste sich, sie quietschte im Wind. Die Wände bröckelten. Wildschweine hatten den Kirchhof zerwühlt, die Grabkreuze ragten schief aus der geschändeten Erde.

Eines Tages hielt Nikolaj es nicht mehr aus. Er stellte sich vor die Residenz des Kiewer Bischofs und rührte sich nicht vom Fleck, bis die Kirchenoberen ihm zuhörten. Die Kirche meiner Väter verfällt, sagte er. Die Kirche braucht einen Priester.

Die Oberen gingen in sich. Nach einem Monat riefen sie Nikolaj zu sich. Wir haben gesucht, sagten sie, aber wir haben niemanden gefunden. Keiner will da hin. Versetz dich in die Lage der Priester – du würdest dich doch auch nicht in die Zone schicken lassen.

So aber geschah es, dass Nikolaj Jakuschin zu Vater Nikolaj wurde.

Zehn Jahre ist das heute her. Eine Zeit lang lappte sein altes Leben ins neue. Ein Ingenieur weiß, wie man ein Haus herrichtet, und sei es ein Gotteshaus. Vater Nikolaj baute ein Gerüst. Er seilte sich an, und bevor er aufs Kirchendach stieg, bekreuzigte er sich. Die Kuppel richtete er selbst. Er verputzte die Wände und ersetzte die Fenster, er jätete das Unkraut und malte dem blassen Christus die Hände nach.

Als alles fertig war, stellte Vater Nikolaj eine große Ikone vor die Altarwand. Die Ikone kam aus Kiew. Einer der Aufräumarbeiter, die nach dem Unfall durch das schmelzende Kraftwerk gekrochen waren, hatte sie malen lassen. Dem Mann war eines Nachts im Traum der Erlöser erschienen. Der Erlöser wandelte auf einer Wolke, die Wolke schwebte über dem Kraftwerk, ein Stern namens Wermut fiel vom Himmel, und in seinem Licht sammelten sich die Toten und die Überlebenden der Zone.

Der Mann ließ seinen Traum malen. Das Bild geriet unorthodox. In der Ikonenmalerei sind Menschen nicht vorgesehen, Menschen mit Gasmasken schon gar nicht. Der „Erlöser von Tschernobyl“ fand trotzdem den Segen der Kirche, der Metropolit von Kiew weihte die Ikone persönlich. Noch während er seine Gebete sprach, ereignete sich das erste Wunder: Eine Taube flog dicht am Bildnis vorbei, fast streiften ihre Schwingen den Erlöser. Als man das Bild wenig später mit Weihwasser besprengte, umwölbte ein Regenbogen wie ein Heiligenschein die Ikone.

So ging es weiter, Wunder auf Wunder, Vater Nikolaj hat Dutzende von Zeugnissen gesammelt. Trägt man die Ikone durch eine verregnete Stadt, klart der Himmel auf. Stellt man sie in eine Kirche, bildet sich über der Kuppel ein Regenbogen. Eine Gelähmte, seit Kindestagen ohne Gewalt über ihren Arm, betete tagelang kniend vor dem Bildnis, bis sich ihre Finger regten.

Vater Nikolaj ist mit der Ikone durch die halbe Ukraine gewandert, vom Schwarzen Meer den Dnjepr entlang bis nach Tschernobyl, den gleichen Weg ging einst der Slawenapostel Andreas. Die Ikone wirkte ihre Wunder. Sie half den Menschen, und aus Dankbarkeit halfen die Menschen Vater Nikolaj. Mit den Rubeln, die man ihm unterwegs in den Beutel warf, renovierte er daheim seine Kirche.

Als die Kirche fertig war, kamen die Menschen. Zuerst kamen sie aus Neugier, sagt Vater Nikolaj, nicht weil sie glaubten. Es kamen alte Leute, die in die Zone zurückgekehrt waren, um in den verlassenen Dörfern zu leben, Menschen, die nicht an Strahlung glaubten oder zu alt waren, um sich vor dem Tod zu fürchten. Es kamen die Wachleute, die man an den Zonengrenzen postiert hatte. Es kamen die Atomarbeiter, die das zerstörte Kraftwerk warteten.

Alle fragten sie: Väterchen, was tust du da?

Ich baue ein Haus, antwortete Vater Nikolaj, ein Haus für Gott. Damit er nach Tschernobyl zurückkehren kann.

Und er kehrte zurück.

Wer sich in der Zone aufhält, sagt Vater Nikolaj, der befindet sich am Rande des Todes. Er hat Angst. Er denkt über das Sterben nach, über das Danach, über die Ewigkeit. So tritt Gott in sein Leben. Wenn die Menschen die Zone betreten, kann man ihnen von außen ansehen, wie es in ihnen arbeitet.

Die Menschen, die Vater Nikolaj in der Kirche besuchten, begannen bald, Fragen zu stellen. Was wird aus uns, Väterchen? Warum ist das alles geschehen? Bestraft uns Gott? Wird er uns verzeihen? Und wenn wir sterben, ist es wahr, dass unsere Seelen weiterleben?

In der Zone, sagt Vater Nikolaj, gibt es heute nicht einen Ungläubigen.

Manche sagen, das Leben außerhalb der Zone sei gefährlicher als hier, in ihrem Inneren. Viele Ausgewanderte leiden unter Krankheiten, für die die Wissenschaftler keinen Namen haben. Stress, sagen die Mediziner dann, migrationsbedingter Stress, Tschernobyl-Stress. Viele sind gestorben an diesem Stress, an Herzgeschichten, Lungengeschichten, Blutgeschichten, Kopfgeschichten.

Wir dagegen, sagt Vater Nikolaj, wir hier in der Zone sind bei guter Gesundheit, Gott der Allmächtige sei gepriesen. Die alten Menschen in den verlassenen Dörfern sterben, aber sie sterben an Altersschwäche, nicht an Krankheiten.

Dabei trinken sie sogar das Wasser. Das Wasser aus dem Fluss, der am Kraftwerk vorbeifließt. Wir segnen es, sagt Vater Nikolaj, dann trinken wir es. Er schlägt ein Kreuz über dem verschneiten Eisband des Pripjat, im Namen des Vaters, flüstert er, des Sohnes, des Heiligen Geistes.

Man muss glauben, sagt Vater Nikolaj. Wer glaubt, dem geschieht nichts.

Heute, am Tag der Auferstehung, wird Vater Nikolaj die orthodoxe Osterliturgie singen.

Christus ist auferstanden von den Toten. Er hat den Tod durch den Tod besiegt und denen im Grabe das Leben geschenkt.

Die ganze Nacht und bis zum Morgengrauen wird Vater Nikolaj vor der Ikone stehen und rufen: Christus ist auferstanden!

Und ein dünner, aber hörbarer Chor wird ihm antworten: Wahrhaftig, er ist auferstanden!

Zwei Tage später, am 26. April um 1 Uhr 23, wird Vater Nikolaj die Trauerglocke im Kirchhof läuten, er tut das jedes Jahr. 25 Glockenschläge werden durch die Zone hallen, einer für jedes Jahr, das vergangen ist.

Die Wissenschaftler sagen, dass 20 000 Jahre vergehen müssen, bevor die Menschen in die Zone zurückkehren können. Wenn die Glocke verstummt, werden es nur noch 19 975 Jahre sein.

Quelle: http://www.tagesspiegel.de/weltspiegel/der-erloeser-von-tschernobyl/4091114.html

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A wonderful testimony for our Christian Faith

immaculata — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 11:39:13 +0000

http://misalvador777.tripod.com/catholictreasurechest/

Hear this with your outer and inner ear and read what is written with attention and then change your life accordingly!

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Notre-Dame de l’Osier

immaculata — Fri, 13 May 2011 11:37:00 +0000

Le village de Notre-Dame de l’Osier doit son nom à un événement extraordinaire qui se produisit en 1649, jour de l’Annonciation de la Vierge. Ce jour-là, Pierre Port-Combet taille l’osier près de chez lui. Soudain, il est recouvert de sang mais, apparemment, il ne s’est pas blessé. Il s’aperçoit que le sang coule des branches d’osier qu’il vient de tailler. La nouvelle se répand dans la région ; ce mystère attire de nombreuses personnes qui viennent voir l’osier miraculeux, devenu source de dévotion.
En 1657, Pierre Port-Combet laboure son champ quand apparaît une belle dame. Celle-ci lui demande de changer de vie et de quitter son état de protestant pour celui de catholique. Cette rencontre aboutit à la conversion du paysan au terme de sa vie, convaincu qu’il a aperçu la Vierge qui lui a donné la grâce.

Amplify’d from www.christ-roi.net

NDdelOsier:HISTOIRE DE N.D. DE L’OZIER ET SES MIRACLES EN 1649, Jean Moron

HISTOIRE DE N.D. DE L’OZIER ET SES MIRACLES EN 1649

par Messire Jean Moron, curé de Poliennas, 1658

Transcription du manuscrit conservé aux Archives Départementales de l’Isère, 2 rue Auguste Prudhomme à Grenoble, sous la référence : VI J, Fonds Esmonin.

Histoire de Notre Dame de l’osier de Vinay diocèse de Grenoble en Dauphiné et des ses miracles

Premier acte

L’an 1649, le jour de l’annonciation de Notre Dame, Pierre Port Combet, habitant des Plantées, mandement de Vinay en Dauphiné du diocèse de Grenoble, auparavant que d’aller à la foire au-dit Vinay, commande à Jeanne Pelioux sa femme catholique, de lui faire à dîner, et que pendant il s’en allait tailler son osier pour en [anter] d’autres. Elle, comme il était hérétique, lui remontre que c’était le jour de Notre Dame de Mars, une grande fête, mal fait d’y travailler. Mais toutes ces raisons, ni la solennité du jour, ne le peuvent détourner d’aller tailler son osier. Il n’en eut pas coupé trois branches qu’il voit sa main, sa serpe et ses chausses remplies de sang, il se regarde partout, s’il ne s’était point coupé, il ne se trouve aucune blessure ni apparence de coupure. D’abord tout étonné, il s’en retourne à sa maison et commande à sa femme et à ses enfants de prier Dieu. Il mène sa dite femme avec lui pour lui en faire couper pour voir s’il en sortirait du sang, comme de lui qui en avait coupé. Elle en coupe deux branches, il n’en sortit rien, lui y remonte et en coupe pour éprouver s’il en sortirait encore du sang, il en sort plus grande abondance qu’auparavant. Il va quérir Muquelles son voisin, auquel il lui fait voir ce qui lui est arrivé. (Son voisin) voit sur la taille de l’osier du sang (qui) vient de l’osier, il lui remontre que par là Dieu lui donnait un exemple, qu’il devait se convertir ; et pour cet effet, il le mène aux Révérends pères Augustins des chaussées dudit Vinay. Cependant la justice du lieu fait sa formation. Sur ce sujet, a raison de l’infraction de la fête, le-dit Combet convaincu et condamné, ainsi qu’il apparaît par les procédures de la judiciature de Vinay.

Second acte

Messieurs de la propagation de la foi de Grenoble ayant appris ce qui était arrivé à ce huguenot présentent requête à [?] et Révérendissime Messire Pierre de Scarron Evêque et prince de Grenoble pour la vérification de ce miracle, lequel commit aussi Messire Henri de Mollines, curé de Tullin et Messire Jean Moron, curé de Poliennas pour informer de nouveau et envoya Monsieur Duport son secrétaire recevoir la procédure qui fut faite en bonne forme. Le susdit Pierre Port Combet, hérétique, et sa femme Jeanne Pelioux, catholique, avouèrent ingénuement et franchement [tout le fait que dessus], monsieur Patricot, curé de Vinay, les pères Augustins, Miquelles, Crosses, ses voisins, Chevalier et autres témoins fussent entendus et par leur rapport le fait étant bien avisé. Dieu donna cette pensée à Dame Jeanne de la Croix de Chevrières, Dame de Reuel, de faire bâtir en ce lieu une chapelle à l’instar de Lorette pour honnorer le mystère de l’incarnation que l’Eglise célèbre ce jour, laquelle dame étant du corps de la propagation, lui laisse l’honneur de cette oeuvre, ne voulant point paraître. Au nom de cette compagnie, Messire Jean Moron, Curé de Poliennas, accepta le fonds des deniers de ladite Dame, laquelle secrètement fournissait de l’argent au-dit Sieur Moron pour faire bâtir ; Ses grandes affaires l’ayant empêché d’éxécuter [?] son pieu dessein, elle le pria d’y faire mettre une croix que Monsieur Fays, Curé de Vinay, fit faire sous la permission de Monseigneur de Grenoble et planter solennelement le jour de la sainte croix en l’année 1656, depuis lequel temps ont été opérés plusieurs miracles et entres autres :

Read more at www.christ-roi.net

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Catholic Resistance in Britain

immaculata — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 19:39:14 +0000

(British) Catholic Counter-Revolution – Re-Conversion of Catholics – Catholic Restoration

Amplify’d from www.christianorder.com

It
was in the December 1959 edition of The Christian Democrat, the voice
of the Catholic Social Guild, that the esteemed English Jesuit Father
Paul Crane, S.J., announced a name-change effective from the following
month. Thus, in January 1960, Christian Order emerged without
fuss or fanfare of any sort and blissfully unaware that it would soon
become the British linchpin of a Catholic counter-revolution.

In the years following the Vatican Council, the Old Mass famously became
the centre of Christian Order’s Catholic resistance to the Modernist
revolutionaries and their manic efforts to Protestantise the Faith anew.
As it ventured more and more into the liturgical, doctrinal, moral,
catechetical and ecumenical fields, however, word was passed down from
the Jesuit powers on high that „Father Crane should stick to the Social
Question.“ But he was not about to confine himself to his renowned specialty,
Catholic social teaching, when virtually every facet of Church life
was under attack. To do so would have meant betraying the Lord and a
multitude of His orthodox flock who, shepherdless and besieged, looked
to Christian Order for direction, instruction and solace: for
the Truth!

Perhaps no local Church in the postconciliar age has owed so much to
the sustained effort of one publication. Week in and week out the ‘so-called
Catholic press’ in Britain spreads error and doubt and wastes its time
appeasing or praising the enemies of Catholicism. Month in and month
out Christian Order defends and propagates the Faith with conviction,
while not hesitating to publicly rebuke wayward and recalcitrant bishops
as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas insisted we must do when the
Faith is endangered. Indeed, since Father Crane’s sudden death in 1997,
we have become even more outspoken in response to the catastrophic scale
of dissent throughout the United Kingdom and the impending demise of
the local Churches, which some English bishops have admitted will come
to pass within the next generation. While others keep their heads down
and await with the best of British reserve some kind of miraculous bail-out,
Christian Order is more bellicose about the situation. We believe
it is way past time for an urgent wake-up call; for raised voices; for
a little arm-waving and excitement to direct attention to the British
farm burning down behind a soporific Catholic populace; for some accusatory
finger-pointing at those clerics who daily fan the rising flames by
their sins of omission and commission.

Christian Order leaves the rest to worry about the celebrated
‘conversion of England’. We are more concerned about the re-conversion
of Catholics! First things first! Obedience to Catholic doctrine and
discipline – to Papal and Magisterial authority – matters above all
else, since a healthy Church precedes and gives rise to a healthy State.
That is the natural order of things ordained by God. All the heartfelt
social justice documents and fretting about the state of the world by
churchmen will come to nought without a self-confident, orthodox Catholic
laity faithful to Tradition. Christian Order contributes to that
eventuality by feeding its readership a steady diet of Catholic truth.
By pulling no punches in its assessment of the present Catholic malaise,
it also provides readers with a better understanding of the negative
ramifications of dissent and disobedience on the life of the Church
– thus motivating them to even greater prayer and work
as part of the Catholic restoration.

Unless
the Church is militant, She cannot thrive and flourish. Thus Christian
Order is a militant antidote to the secular „live and let live“
attitude which has brought the Church low. For forty years it has embodied
that uncompromising spirit demanded by Pope Leo XIII, who contended
that in times of necessity each Catholic is „under obligation to show
forth his faith to instruct and encourage other of the Faithful“ [Sapientise
Christianae]. We therefore urge you to take out a Christian Order
subscription today, to ensure that one of the precious few European
voices for orthodoxy and tradition continues its mission for Christ
and His Church well into the new millennium!

Read more at www.christianorder.com

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December 18th, Our Lady in Expectation

immaculata — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 13:37:24 +0000

The Feast was removed from the Roman Calendar during the reign Pope St Pius X (in the name of simplification!). The Feast is long overdue for restoration in the calendar, not least as an antidote to the rampant commercialism of Christmas that Pope St Pius would never have dreamed of, and as Our Lady under this title is a most excellent Patroness of Expectant Mothers.

Amplify’d from cathcon.blogspot.com

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Feast of Our Lady in Expectation

In Bavaria, a statue of Our Lady in processed from house to house in the parish in memory of Our Lady and St Joseph’s search for lodgings.

The Feast was removed from the Roman Calendar during the reign Pope St Pius X (in the name of simplification!). The Feast is long overdue for restoration in the calendar, not least as an antidote to the rampant commercialism of Christmas that Pope St Pius would never have dreamed of, and as Our Lady under this title is a most excellent Patroness of Expectant Mothers.

Our Lady in Expectation is venerated in Bavaria at Bodenburg

and in Austria in the Parish of Ohlsdorf (see first picture)

Our Lady in Expectation often shown with her arms crossed, as in this statue in the Dominican Museum in Rottweil

Our Lady in Expectation venerated in Italy.

Venerated in the Church of St Catherine in Bergamo, Italy.

And the most famous of all, Madonna del Parto, also known as Our Lady of the O, recalling the „O“ Antiphons.

Read more at cathcon.blogspot.com

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A aparição da Santíssima Virgem a santo Ildefonso de Toledo

immaculata — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 12:45:31 +0000

Santo Ildefonso estabelece ou pelo menos celebrou e propagou com zelo a festa da Espectação do parto da Santíssima Virgem. Ora, antes de Matinas desse dia (18 de dezembro), Ildefonso levantou-se à habitual para ir cantar os elogios de Maria. Estava acompanhado dos seus clérigos e dum grande número de pessoas. Iam na frente luminosas tochas de cera. Chegados à porta, as pessoas que compunham o cortejo aperceberam na igreja uma clareza que os seus olhos não pudiam suportar e fugiram. Ildefonso mandou abrir e avançou para o altar acompanhado pelo diácono e pelo sub-diácono apenas. Prostrou-se e nesse mesmo momento apareceu-lhe Virgem a Maria sentada sobre o trono épiscopal, cercada de um bando de Virgens que executavam sobre a terra os cânticos do Paraíso. Maria fez sinal ao seu defensor para que se aproximasse, e fixando sobre ele o seu olhar divino disse-lhe: “Vós sois o meu capelão e o meu fiel notário, recebei esta casula que o meu Filho tirou dos seus tesouros”. Seguidamente cobriu-o Ela mesma e ordenou-lhe de não se servir desta que por ocasião das festas celebradas na sua honra. Esta aparição foi tão certa e real que um concílio de Toledo ordenou que para perpetuar a memória uma festa seria celebrada todos os anos, com serviço e sob rito duplo e que ainda hoje se celebra a 21 de Janeiro sob o título de “Aparição da Santíssima Virgem e do seu Menino a santo Ildefonso”, e, coisa notável, esta mesma festa é solenisada no Egipto pelos Coptas.

Amplify’d from alexandrinabalasar.free.fr

Ildefonso
de Toledo

Arcebispo, Santo
VII

s
portas de Toledo, capital do reino do Visigodos da Espanha,
elevava-se ao sétimo século, o mosteiro de Agali, um verdadeiro
viveiro de santos e de doutores. F oi aí que se fez monge, apesar
das violentas
resistências
da sua família, Ildefonso que colocamos com a maior felicidade a
nossa resenha da flor dos Santos, sobretudo que ele foi muito
dedicado Marie, a Rainha dos anjos e os homens.

Ildefonso, o mais ilustre dos discípulos de santo Isidore de
Sevilha, o mais popular dos santos da Espanha, tinha nascido nesta
mesma cidade de Toledo, no seio duma família — na qual corria o
sangue real —, a 8 de Dezembro de 606, dia que depois foi consagrado
à Imaculada Conceição da Virgem Maria e, foi pela intercessão de
Maria que Estevão, seu pai, e Lúcia, a sua mãe obtiveram do céu esta
criança abençada. Recebeu, primeiramente em Sevilha, durante doze
anos, as lições de Isidoro, seguidamente tendo voltado ao lar
familial, ele fez-se monge em Agali e aí terminou os seus estudos. A
morte dos seus pais deixaram-lhe a livre disposição dos seus bens,
que ele consagrou à fundação de um mosteiro de religiosas.

Eugénio
II, o arcebispo de Toledo, tendo falecido (657), a voz unânime do
clero e do povo colocou Ildefonso sobre a sede metropolitana; e
então, fazendo o ofício de bom pasteur, iluminou, como um sol
mystico, todas as igrejas da Espanha pela sua ciência assim como
pela sua virtude. “Mas o que lhe valeu o primeiro lugar no amor e na
memória do povo espanhol, foi sobretudo a sua ardente devoção para
com a Santíssima Virgem cuja virgindade defendeu contra o Helvídios.
As visões miraculosas que confirmam o reconhecimento de Maria para
pelos esforços do seu zeloso defensor e as relíquias que deixou à
igreja de Toledo, inflamaram durante muito tempo a devoção dos
Espanhóis para com o seu grande santo Alonzo. Estas maravilhas
insignes merecem ser conhecidas.

No dia
da festa de santa Leocádia, esta ilustre e famosa mártir saiu do seu
túmulo junto do qual Ildefonso orava e descobriu-lhe o sítio onde se
encon travam as suas relíquias, durante muito tempo esquecidas, que
o santo arcebispo desejava ardentemente reencontrar. Seguidamente
tomando-o pela mão disse-lhe perante toda a assistência: “Ildefonso,
por ti foi defendida a minha Soberana que reina no alto dos céus”,
querendo dizer-lhe que tinha defendido a honra de Marie contra os
hereges. Para ter uma prova palpável desta visão, tomou a espada do
rei Réceswinthe que o acompanhava e cortou um retalho do véu da
Santa, antes que o túmulo se fechasse: esta parcela de véu tornou-se
uma relíquia muito venerada, conservada na igreja de Toledo. Santo
Ildefonso estabelece ou pelo menos celebrou e propagou com zelo a
festa da Espectação do parto da Santíssima Virgem. Ora, antes de
Matinas desse dia, Ildefonso levantou-se à habitual para ir cantar
os elogios de Maria. Estava acompanhado dos seus clérigos e dum
grande número de pessoas. Iam na frente luminosas tochas de cera.
Chegados à porta, as pessoas que compunham o cortejo aperceberam na
igreja uma clareza que os seus olhos não pudiam suportar e fugiram.
Ildefonso mandou abrir e avançou para o altar acompanhado pelo
diácono e pelo sub-diácono apenas. Prostrou-se e nesse mesmo momento
apareceu-lhe Virgem a Maria sentada sobre o trono épiscopal, cercada
de um bando de Virgens que executavam sobre a terra os cânticos do
Paraíso. Maria fez sinal ao seu defensor para que se aproximasse, e
fixando sobre ele o seu olhar divino disse-lhe: “Vós sois o meu
capelão e o meu fiel notário, recebei esta casula que o meu Filho
tirou dos seus tesouros”. Seguidamente cobriu-o Ela mesma e
ordenou-lhe de não se servir desta que por ocasião das festas
celebradas na sua honra. Esta aparição foi tão certa e real que um
concílio de Toledo ordenou que para perpetuar a memória uma festa
seria celebrada todos os anos, com serviço e sob rito duplo e que
ainda hoje se celebra a 21 de Janeiro sob o título de “Aparição da
Santíssima Virgem e do seu Menino a santo Ildefonso”, e, coisa
notável, esta mesma festa é solenisada no Egipto pelos Coptas.

Estes
favores com que Nosso Senhor e a sua Santa Mãe quizeram honrar o seu
servo é um digno prelúdio à felicidade eterna da qual, no dia 23 de
Janeiro do ano 669, ele iria gozar. Tinha então Ildefonso sessenta e
três anos de idade e dez como bispo de Toledo.

Santo
Ildefonso foi enterrado na igreja de Santa Leocádia e mais tarde,
por causa dos mouros, o seu coprpo foi transladado para Zamora nas
Astúias onde se celebra ainda esta translação das sua relíquias.

A casa
onde santo Ildefonso nasceu foi dada aos Padres Jesuítas, depois de
ter pertencido aos condes de Orgas. Estes religiosos mandaram
construir uma magnífica igreja no lugar que esta casa ocupava e
reavivaram a memória do Santo que os toledanos tinham, a pouco e
pouco, esquecido.

FONTE : P.
Giry : Les petits Bollandistes : vies des saints. T. I.
Source

http://gallica.bnf.fr/
Bibliothèque nationale de France. Tradução : Afonso Rocha.

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Untitled

immaculata — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:17:30 +0000

Amplify’d from www.traditioninaction.org

Ara Coeli: The Altar of the Heavens
for the Santo Bambino

Marian Therese Horvat, Ph.D.

Schools do not stress history much these days, but most people know that Jesus Christ was born in the reign of Caesar Octavian Augustus. Catholic historians teach that the peace of Augustus was one of the main conditions that permitted the initial spread of Christianity. But Augustus did not inherit this era of peace. The opposite was true. What he came into after the death of his predecessor, Julius Caesar, was a situation of extreme disorder and demoralization in every sphere of life. Revolution and war were rife, the morals and family life of Rome were deteriorating, the idolatrous state religion was in decline and Eastern mystery religions were spreading to fill the void.

It was an age ripe for the true Savior, the true God who would restore not only authority and order, but bring supernatural grace and install Faith, Hope, and Charity, and thus offer a sense of purpose in this earthly life. Throughout the first century BC there was a great spread of Messianic ideas not only among the Jewish people, who knew from the Prophets and signs in the heavens that the birth of their King was imminent, but also among the Roman people. Providence permitted signs and prophecies throughout the Roman world presaging the birth of the Savior of the world. For example, in 40 BC, Virgil wrote his haunting Fourth Eclogue, in which he presented a vision of a “golden age” soon to come with the birth of a Child born of a Virgin.

Over the site of the altar to the unknown god erected by Augustus, a Catholic Church was built dedicated to the Mother of God: Santa Maria in Ara Coeli

And so, when Octavian Augustus began to consolidate the Empire, revive Roman traditions and religion, and establish policies that would bring about his famous peace, it was not surprising that in the Roman Empire, which was accustomed to deifying its Emperors, he was hailed by many as that great deliverer.

Octavian Augustus at first did not aim at an open self-deification, which would have alienated the Senate and aristocracy. Disturbed at rumors that the Senate was about to honor him as a god, he is said to have consulted the Tiburtine Sibyl. After three days of fasting, she made this prophecy: “I see clear signs that justice will be done …. Soon from the sky will descend the King of ages.” As she spoke, the Emperor had a vision of a Virgin standing on an altar in dazzling light and holding the baby Jesus in her arms. Then he heard a voice that said “This is the altar of the first-born Son of God.”

Documents as early as the 6th century record that upon hearing these words, the Emperor paid homage and lay prostrate before this marvellous vision. He ordered an imperial altar erected on that very site. It was called the Ara Coeli – the Altar of the Heavens, an altar dedicated to the future Infant-God prophesied to be born during the reign of Augustus.

Santa Maria in Ara Coeli: the triumph of Christianity over Paganism

Octavian Augustus, who later accepted and even encouraged his own deification, is remembered by no one as god or savior. But the altar he erected in Rome for the future Infant-God remains today to commemorate the King of Kings born in his reign. The temple to the goddess Juno where the Emperor saw the vision is one of the ruins of history. But over that site, a Catholic Church was built dedicated to the Mother of God: Santa Maria in Ara Coeli. Here, on what seems to be the highest hill of Rome, stands a symbol of the triumph of Christianity over Paganism.

The Madonna di Ara Coeli, an early fresco of Our Lady, which tradition says was painted by St. Luke

One senses this still today, especially during the Advent and Christmas season, when Santa Maria in Ara Coeli becomes the center of celebration of the birth of Christ. For this is where one finds the Santo Bambino, beloved by Romans and pilgrims who have the good fortune, as I did, to visit there.

Ara Coeli was on my list of “must visit” places in Rome for two reasons: to see the altar built by the Emperor still preserved there, and to venerate a fresco of the Blessed Virgin that tradition tells us was painted by St. Luke, the Madonna di Ara Coeli. I knew nothing of the Chapel of the Santo Bambino. I was overwhelmed entering this minor basilica that seems so plain on the outside but sparkles to distraction on the inside with its gilded paneled ceiling built to commemorate the victory of Lepanto, and its triple naves filled with paintings from every era.

It was not long, however, before my attention was captured by the piece in a side chapel that ends by dominating Santa Maria in Ara Coeli. It is the life size statue of the Infant Jesus carved from olive-wood from Gethsemane by a Franciscan friar in Jerusalem at the end of 1400. According to tradition, its coloring was completed by the hand of an angel. Truly it seems an angelic work, because the ruddy skin of the chubby faced Infant shines and glows with a translucence that is beyond human skill to achieve.

Seeing the Santo Bambino [Holy Infant], I felt the natural joy one feels in the presence of the innocence of a baby, a joy intensified by the sense that this is an Infant like no other. I had an overwhelming urge to touch Him, to embrace Him, to draw near this Divine Bambino and share a bit of the sweetness and sanctity that radiate from this statue.

“You must love the Santo Bambino”

This impulse toward intimacy might seem presumptuous to a puritanical spirit, which the Roman, whatever his faults may be, does not have. Through the centuries, the people of Rome have embraced their beloved Santo Bambino. It is a long held tradition for persons who become sick to call for the Santo Bambino, and, until recently, he was transported to their bedsides in a gilded carriage donated by the people of Rome. (Even the sacred statue has felt the de-sacralizing effects of Vatican II and must now travel by simpler coach). The miraculous cures have been many.

The Santo Bambino –
known and loved throughout Rome amd the Catholic world

The custom soon formed for pilgrims and devotees to give gifts of jewels to the Infant Christ, which have adorned the gown of the wooden statue from head to toe. But the Divine Child cannot be outdone in generosity. From time to time after floods or natural disasters in Rome, the jewels have been sold to fund relief efforts. “If you wish to be truly Roman, you must love the Santo Bambino,” the people say.

On Christmas night, I am told, the Church of Ara Coeli is a marvel. It can seem that most of Rome is climbing the 124 steps as bagpipers play traditional medieval tunes before the church door. Inside chandeliers and tapers blaze, transporting the churchgoers to another era. At midnight the Santo Bambino is brought from his private Chapel to a ceremonial baroque throne before the high altar. When the Gloria is sung, the veil is taken away, and the statue is processed to his special Chapel of the Creche in the left nave. I have not seen the procession, but I can imagine it. An Italian pandemonium breaks out as everyone jostles to get a better look or edge a little closer. And the “lucky ones” actually touch the statue itself.

Then, from Christmas to Epiphany, the Santo Bambino can be visited in state, in his Chapel of the Creche, open only for this brief season. There He sits on the lap of the Virgin, accessible to all, in the creche scene with dressed life-size figures. This is the time when the children come to pay homage to the Christ Child. A wooden pulpit across from the presepio is set up for them so that they can recite poems, prayers, or requests before their little King. It is charming Catholic traditions like these, born organically from the natural enthusiasm and devotion of a people, that nourish intimacy between the inhabitants of Heaven and Earth.

Fide et fiducia

From Christmas to Epiphany, the Santo Bambino sits on the lap of the Virgin in the “Chapel of the Creche” in the church’s life-size creche scene

Two thousand years after the birth of Christ, we come before His simple creche. We do not have the good fortune to be in Rome. But then, we know that the Rome of today is suffering from the same moral deterioration and lack of faith as the rest of the world. For those who truly love Ages Bambino, it is futile to try to forget or ignore the crisis in the Church or disguise the gravity of the hour.

Kneeling before Divine Infant, we realize that the reform of the Church requires something personal, the reform of man – not considered in the abstract, but rather, my own personal reform, my own conversion in customs as well as the spiritual life. This is what Our Lady called for at Anima as an essential and indispensable part of the conditions for a Catholic restoration. It is the moment to beg pardon for our sins and past concessions to the Revolution, to ask for the courage and perseverance to remain in the fight for the Church until the victory.

Then, having made this act of generosity and combativity, we can be serene and confident. Let each one do his part in the fight, certain that the Santo Bambino will supply the rest for the triumph to come that His Blessed Mother promised at Fatima.

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A wonderful Christmas poem!

immaculata — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 09:37:44 +0000

Amplify’d from gloria.tv

Once In Royal David’s City
soundingjoy — 13/12/10 06:13:53:

Once in Royal David’s city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a Mother laid her baby
In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that Mother mild,
Jesus Christ, Her little Child.

He came down to earth from heaven,
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable,
And His cradle was a stall;
With the poor, and mean, and lowly,
Lived on earth our Saviour Holy,

For He is our childhood pattern,
Day by day, like us He grew,
He was little, weak and helpless,
Tears and smiles, like us He knew.
And He feeleth for our sadness,
And He shareth in our gladness.

And our eyes, at last shall see Him,
Through His Own Redeeming love
For that Child, so dear, so gentle
Is our Lord in heaven above,
And He leads His children on
To the place where He has gone.

Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see; but in heaven,
Set a God’s Right Hand on high.
Where like the stars, His children crowned.
And all in white, shall wait around.

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What Guadalupe celebrations signify

immaculata — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 06:05:18 +0000

The story of the Virgin Mary’s appearance in Mexico

Amplify’d from www.catholicnewsagency.com

Guadalupe celebration signifies history and future of Catholic America

By Benjamin Mann, Staff Writer

San Antonio, Texas, Dec 12, 2010 / 05:59 am (CNA/EWTN News).-
Five centuries ago, St. Juan Diego was the first believer to meet the Virgin Mary under the title and appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Today, millions continue to encounter and embrace her motherly presence, especially on her feast day of Dec. 12.

The story of the Virgin Mary’s appearance in Mexico is well-known to many devotees. On Dec. 9, 1531, Juan Diego –a recently-baptized indigenous Mexican convert to Catholicism– was hurrying to Mass, to Celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. But the woman he was heading to church to celebrate, came to him instead.

Regally attired, and speaking the native Aztec dialect, the radiant woman announced herself as the “ever-perfect holy Mary, who has the honor to be the mother of the true God.”

“I am your compassionate Mother, yours and that of all the people that live together in this land,” she continued, “and also of all the other various lineages of men.” She asked Juan Diego to make a request of the local bishop.

“I want very much that they build my sacred little house here” – a house dedicated to her son Jesus Christ, on the site of a former pagan temple, that would “show Him” to all Mexicans and “exalt Him” throughout the world.

She was asking a great deal of the newly-baptized Mexican peasant. Not surprisingly, his bold request met with skepticism from Bishop Juan de Zumárraga. But Juan Diego said he would produce unquestionable proof of the apparition– just as soon as he was finished tending to his dying uncle, whose death seemed immanent.

Once again making his way to church on Dec. 12, this time to summon a priest to his uncle’s deathbed, Juan Diego again encountered the radiant woman. She promised to cure his uncle, and to give him a sign to display for the bishop. On the hill where they had first met, she said he would find roses and other flowers, although it was the middle of winter.

Doing as she asked, he found the flowers and brought them back to her. The Virgin Mary then placed the flowers inside his tilma, the traditional winter garment he had been wearing, for their storage. She instructed him not to unwrap the tilma containing the flowers, until he had reached the bishop.

When he did, Bishop Zumárraga had his own encounter with Our Lady of Guadalupe, through the image of her that he found miraculously imprinted on the flower-filled tilma. The Mexico City basilica that now houses that tilma has become, by some estimates, the most-visited Catholic shrine in the world.

The outlook for the Catholic Church in Mexico, where European religious orders had struggled to convey the faith to the native Mexicans, changed suddenly and dramatically once the tilma appeared. As many as nine-million native Mexicans are said to have become Catholic, between 1532 and 1538.

In 1999, three years before Pope John Paul II canonized St. Juan Diego, he summed up the significance of the Virgin of Guadalupe for Catholics throughout the Americas, describing her as the “mother and evangelizer of America.” The Pope also noted that “in the next millennium … (North and South) America will be the continent with the largest number of Catholics.”

Just as other Catholics might describe their faith as having a “Franciscan” or “Dominican” emphasis, some Catholics deeply identify with a “Guadalupan” Catholicism. That sensibility tends to emphasize the Virgin Mary’s maternal care for all peoples, her identification with the humble and oppressed, and her call for all cultures to receive the Gospel message while preserving their own gifts.

Although the Virgin of Guadalupe announced herself to Juan Diego as the mother of all peoples, devotion to her is understandably strongest in Mexico and its former territories within the U.S., and among Latino Catholics everywhere. The image left for posterity on Juan Diego’s tilma has also been imprinted on their culture and outlook.

For Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio, Texas, devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe began before he was even born. As he explained to CNA on Dec. 10, his mother made a pilgrimage with his father to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe while she was pregnant with him.

“When I was in the womb of my mother, my father and my mother went on a pilgrimage to Mexico City,” about 300 miles from his birthplace in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi. “They took me there, and they prayed for me.”

“They asked Mary to help raise me as a good kid, and a good Catholic,” the future archbishop recalled. He and his 14 siblings later made “many, many pilgrimages” to the shrine. Like many Mexican and other Latino Catholics, Archbishop Garcia-Siller remembers the Guadalupe image as a constant part of his home life, closely associated with the daily family Rosary and novena prayers for particular needs.

“My faith in Jesus Christ, and in the Church, has a lot to do with her,” he reflected.

Many Latino Catholics celebrating their faith and culture on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe would agree with his statement. His archdiocese’s Cathedral of San Fernando, the oldest active cathedral in the U.S., has been a center for devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe for almost 300 years. And while the city has variously belonged to four different nations during that time, devotion to her has never changed.

“The devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe is very festive,” he explained. “In the midst of tragic situations that people go through, (celebrating) Our Lady is an occasion to be festive– because of the hope that she brings.”

They’ll celebrate that hope at Mass, and with processions and prayers– but also by singing and dancing, eating and drinking, wearing costumes or watching plays in which children re-enact the story of Juan Diego. Even those who may not grasp or acknowledge it as a holy day, can celebrate it as a holiday– and perhaps, Archbishop Garcia-Siller speculated, they may hear what the image wordlessly conveys.

At San Fernando Cathedral, mariachi musicians and other devotees will gather “to serenade Our Lady for an hour,” expressing their love in a variety of songs many know by heart. Some are traditional hymns of the Church– but “also, there are songs that are popular,” expressing childlike or chivalrous affection toward “a mother who loves her children.”

For Catholics of other backgrounds, the experience might be a foreign one, at least on the surface. But Archbishop Garcia-Siller noted that Our Lady of Guadalupe, as a universal mother, can draw together communities that may not understand their own interconnections.

“Her presence, her message, is for all those who follow Jesus, who want to have a relationship with him,” he said.

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Brandrede an die Adresse des türkischen Botschafters Österreichs

immaculata — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 17:56:02 +0000

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/j0BOKGDSo7o?fs=1&hl=de_DE&rel=0

Herausragend gut – mutig – treffend! So sollten unsere Politiker mit Dergleichen (schon lange) umgehen!

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